In the past years, consumer organisations have worked intensively on the EU’s trade agreements with the US (TTIP) and Canada (CETA). We’ve stressed the advantages and challenges of these agreements and demanded that consumers benefit from them. For better or...

Last week, US and EU consumer groups joined in the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue met in Washington DC for their annual meeting. In this guest blog, Susan Grant, Director of Consumer Protection and Privacy, Consumer Federation of America, shares her impressions....

At this point it’s perhaps a bit cliché to say it, but free trade is on shaky ground. Public support for trade liberalisation is waning, the Financial Times illustrated. This scepticism is very much highlighted by wrangling on a proposed...

Last month, the European Commission broke a promise it had made to you and all other EU citizens. The promise? That the EU will not trade away the ’precautionary principle’ to strike a trade deal with the United States (known...

From “most important leak ever” to “much ado about nothing”, the analyses from different commentators of yesterday’s TTIP revelations couldn’t be wider-ranging. In a blog post, Trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström tried to soft-pedal the importance of the leaks by saying...

While TTIP is in the spotlight… The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are not the only big trade negotiations happening now. The EU and 22 other member states[1] of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are currently negotiating a multi-party...

Last week, the Commission discretely[1] published on its trade website a new version of its position paper on cosmetics within The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The main difference with the previous paper is that it no longer contains...

January kicked-off with three exciting developments on TTIP. It seems that in the wake of the 8th negotiating round of February TTIP has finally left its extended winter sleep. European Commission transparency “offensive” It started last week Wednesday when Commissioner...

The mooted Investor-State Arbitration System (ISDS) is one of the most controversial elements of the ongoing TTIP negotiations. Much to the surprise of negotiators, ISDS is one of the driving forces behind recent major public protests throughout Europe against TTIP....

Much has been written about the potential impact of TTIP on consumers in the European Union. Beyond that, one cannot help but wonder how TTIP will affect the EU’s neighbouring countries and citizens. Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are three countries...